Heyla, all!

I've got a bit of Christmas Cash to spend, so I'm looking for a decent utility that will allow me to put morphs, such as realistic and definition, into the clothing I make for Aiko and Hiro. Right now, the two products I'm considering are Netherworks Studios' Clothing MorphKit and Codetwister's The Tailor. Both sound pretty decent, but I'm still not sure which is the most flexible for my needs. For example, I've heard that the Tailor has a slight problem with baggy clothing? And is the Definition morph included among the magnet sets of the MorphKit?

Also, if anyone has any additional software/utilities/magnet sets to recommend ($30 or less, please; that leaves out WW2, as it's $60, at the moment; that's clearly more than I can afford, right now), I'd be glad to hear it!

Thanks for your help,
TheKeeper

I don't use any of those utilities, but CodeTwisters MorphMaster Pro is an excellent product if you don't mind a little "hands on."  You can load a figure and clothes, and you can pose the figure and use any morphs installed in the CR2.  It works through the CR2 itself, and saves morphs and FBMs directly.  It has great selection options and morphing capabilities.

Not sure if it supports V4.  I emailed CodeTwister about it, but never got an answer.  Now I don't work with figures anymore, so I let it go.  I think it's in the price range you mentioned.

John

Hm... you're the first person to mention MorphMaster. I had looked at it, but it didn't sound like what I was looking for. I'll take anouther look, definitely!

As for my not minding a little "hands on," that depends on how much of that is involved. I don't mind a little, as long as I have a procedure I can follow to make things work properly.

And I don't really mind MorphMaster not supporting V4. I have her, but I don't use her, really. The figures I use the most often are Aiko and Hiro, for the most part.

Thanks for your feedback! I'll definitely take another look at MorphMaster!

TheKeeper

If you created the clothing in a modelling program why not do the same for the morphs?

Attached Link: Introduction to MorphMaster Pro

John

"If you created the clothing in a modelling program why not do the same for the morphs?"

Because that would take much longer than I'd like, as I'd have to export Aiko with each body morph applied. I'm hoping the utilities I'm considering will help shorten the time spent on this process.

"Attached Link: Introduction to MorphMaster Pro

It may be a little more "hands on" than you want, but is great when you get comfortable with it.  I have a tut on my site that may help you decide about it.  It has to do with making the original Alexa's body suit fit the rebuilt Alexa 2, so deals with some of the things you want to do.

John"

Oh, thank you! I'll go check it out!

Well, the tutorial didn't look all that bad, for the most part. The steps seemed very easy to follow. I'll definitely consider MorphMaster as another option! Thank you!

TheKeeper

Quote - Well, the tutorial didn't look all that bad, for the most part. The steps seemed very easy to follow. I'll definitely consider MorphMaster as another option! Thank you!

TheKeeper

Well, not too certain about wardrobe wizard, as I understand it it's primarly geared towards converting clothing from one figure type to another rather than morph transforms, but I could be wrong as it's not a program that I've used personally.

I've heard good things about the Tailor from a friend who owns a copy, again not a program I use personally but he swears by it.  He says for figures other than V4 it's about as easy as it gets, you load the CR2 file for the figure (Like Aiko or V3), then load the CR2 file for the clothing, pick the morphs from a list of full body morphs and then click on the transfer button and save the final result.  Pretty much a 1, 2 3 sort of process from the way he explained it.

From what I understand he was having some difficulty getting the program to work with V4 - apparently from what he was saying some of the FBM's in V4 are a bit different, so he finally had to create FBM's for the V4 character himself by applying the morph, creating a full body morph in poser, then saving a special version of the V4 cr2 he called V4 Tailor.  

Then the tailor could find the FBM's fine and it seems to work great even with the standard V4 character, he only uses the "Tailor" cr2 to load into the tailor as a reference file.

Me personally I probably use a much less popular method, when I need a morph I export the clothing in question to an obj file, edit it in a modelling application and then reimport it as a morph target.  Works for me, but some people prefer the click and it's done approach.

Nothing wrong with that mind you, but my workflow and application is probably a lot different than most so I've kinda developed my own way of doing things. 

Just my 2 cents worth
Stepdad

Quote - Well, the tutorial didn't look all that bad, for the most part. The steps seemed very easy to follow. I'll definitely consider MorphMaster as another option! Thank you!

TheKeeper

I think you'll like it.  I like it, but I'm a little different.  I like to get my hands in everything ;)

John

I've downloaded the demo of MorphMaster 2 to see what my learning curve is for the program. If I can pick it up fairly quickly, I'll likely buy it, now. If not, I'll probably buy it in a month or two, and simply buy the MorphKit for now, while learning how to use the demo program. No matter what, from what I've seen so far, this program looks very versatile. It isn't quite as easy as 1, 2, 3 to make morphs for your clothing, say, in comparison to the Tailor or the MorphKit. However, after playing with the demo version for about 15 minutes, I can tell that I can do so much more with the program, as well. So, no matter what, whether now or in a month or two, I'll have MorphMaster Pro!

Quote - Well, not too certain about wardrobe wizard, as I understand it it's primarly geared towards converting clothing from one figure type to another rather than morph transforms, but I could be wrong as it's not a program that I've used personally.

I've heard good things about the Tailor from a friend who owns a copy, again not a program I use personally but he swears by it.  He says for figures other than V4 it's about as easy as it gets, you load the CR2 file for the figure (Like Aiko or V3), then load the CR2 file for the clothing, pick the morphs from a list of full body morphs and then click on the transfer button and save the final result.  Pretty much a 1, 2 3 sort of process from the way he explained it.

From what I understand he was having some difficulty getting the program to work with V4 - apparently from what he was saying some of the FBM's in V4 are a bit different, so he finally had to create FBM's for the V4 character himself by applying the morph, creating a full body morph in poser, then saving a special version of the V4 cr2 he called V4 Tailor.  

Then the tailor could find the FBM's fine and it seems to work great even with the standard V4 character, he only uses the "Tailor" cr2 to load into the tailor as a reference file.

Me personally I probably use a much less popular method, when I need a morph I export the clothing in question to an obj file, edit it in a modelling application and then reimport it as a morph target.  Works for me, but some people prefer the click and it's done approach.

Nothing wrong with that mind you, but my workflow and application is probably a lot different than most so I've kinda developed my own way of doing things. 

Just my 2 cents worth
Stepdad

Thanks for the info! I'm not too concerned with V4. I really only use Aiko and Hiro. I like manga and anime, and I really like how versatile these two figures are. I use them almost exclusively.

And, yes, you're obviously much more experienced with this sort of thing than I am. I'm just starting out, so making my morphs with anim8or, the program I made my armor set with, would just be too awkward for me, at the moment. I'd like something that would make my life much, much easier! From making the Simple Light Armor for Aiko and Hiro, I've learned that the process is already long enough. I don't think my patience can stand having to do things by hand in quite that way. (Although, come to think of it, making morphs for the clothing with MorphMaster is like a more efficient version of taking your models in a modelling program and morphing them by hand, no?) So, for now, yes. I'm looking for a nice, "1, 2, 3, let's go!" method for making my clothing morphs.

Although, having played with the MorphMaster demo, I can see the appeal of shaping the morphs by hand in your favorite modelling program. You have much more control of how things are morphed, that way, and you can preserve any detailing on your models you may have. I think that's why I like MorphMaster, already, after having only played with it for a few minutes. It's a nice compromise between the 1, 2, 3 method and taking the models into anim8or and fiddling with the model by hand. Real nice!

To tell the honest truth, right now, I'm caught between MorphMaster and the Clothing MorphKit. MorphMaster is real nice, but I know it'll take me a few days to learn it. The MorphKit is nice and quick, and will allow me to learn how to use magnets on clothing, better. Sigh. I think I'll play with MorphMaster, more, before I make any real, final decisions.

Well, it seems like it'll take a while for me to learn MorphMaser. That's okay, though. I'll definitely be buying it in a few months, anyhow.

I've downloaded The Tailor 1.5 Demo. I really like how easy it is to use! Now I'm caught, again, between the magnets from Netherworks and the Tailor. I want the magnets because I think they're a grea learning tool for making clothing magnets on my own, but at the same time, I like just how easy the Tailor is.

I just might end up buying The Tailor at the end of the day, and buying one of the MoprhKits a little later on. And in a few months, I'l be buying MorphMaster.

Demos... such a pain and a blessing!

TheKeeper

Get Wardrobe Wizard 2. It will add the figure's morphs to clothing. Simple and fast. ^^

Quote - Get Wardrobe Wizard 2. It will add the figure's morphs to clothing. Simple and fast. ^^

Thanks for the recommendation, but I've already purchased The Tailor. (Plus, as I mentioned in the first post, WW2 is out of my price range. The program, itself, is $60, and I have to pay an additional 10-20 dollars just to be able to use it for Aiko and Hiro.). Actually, I decided to compromise and purchase both The Tailor ($30) and the MorphKit for Hiro ($13). Yes, I spent an additional $13 I hadn't intended to spend, but it's proving to be an excellent investment, as I'm learning quite a bit about magnet placement for clothing morphs (knowledge I need for a particular project I'm working on.) I'm quite pleased with my purchases!

In a few months, If I can learn it well, I'll also likely buy MorphMaster, as I really like the versatility of that program, from what I've seen of the demo. As for WW2... I don't know. Maybe in 6 months to a year, when I have the kind of money to spend on something that expensive that I don't know too much about (the features I'm interested in are disabled in the demo), I may buy it on a lark. Until then, as I said, I'm quite happy with my purchases!

I thank everyone for their recommendations and comments! They all helped me to make my final decisions!

Thanks, again!
TheKeeper

Quote - And, yes, you're obviously much more experienced with this sort of thing than I am. I'm just starting out, so making my morphs with anim8or, the program I made my armor set with, would just be too awkward for me, at the moment. I'd like something that would make my life much, much easier! From making the Simple Light Armor for Aiko and Hiro, I've learned that the process is already long enough. I don't think my patience can stand having to do things by hand in quite that way. (Although, come to think of it, making morphs for the clothing with MorphMaster is like a more efficient version of taking your models in a modelling program and morphing them by hand, no?) So, for now, yes. I'm looking for a nice, "1, 2, 3, let's go!" method for making my clothing morphs.

Hey, we all start somewhere.  I got my start a few years back when my boss dumped a bunch of 3d software on my desk and said "One of our departments just bought a bunch of these apps and we need somebody on the helpdesk who can figure out how to use them so someone here can help them when they call in with questions".

I'm no brilliant artist or visionary, just the poor slob that got a ton of mysterious apps dumped on his desk and had to learn how to use them whether he wanted to or not.  So I installed them, fired them up, read some documentation and started playing.  I did what your doing now, hung out in message forums and asked questions.

A few years later and I'm solidly hooked, I've gone from simply posing and morphing to modeling and texturing my own stuff, and I enjoy it tremendously.  Funny thing is our company employs about a dozen graphic artists and professional modellers and even so there are times when some of the guys will call me up and ask me to model something for them instead, because what they got back from graphic arts wasn't quite what they wanted.  Talk about an ego boost.. lol..

Quote - To tell the honest truth, right now, I'm caught between MorphMaster and the Clothing MorphKit. MorphMaster is real nice, but I know it'll take me a few days to learn it. The MorphKit is nice and quick, and will allow me to learn how to use magnets on clothing, better. Sigh. I think I'll play with MorphMaster, more, before I make any real, final decisions.

Because of my own rather unique start I didn't get started using Poser until much later than most, I actually learned on higher end software first and selected Poser for home use after the fact.  As a result I don't really do much with a lot of the morphing programs designed for poser, I find it much faster to just dump what I need on a jump drive, take it to work and fix what I need between calls or on my lunch break :)

Stepdad

Quote - Hey, we all start somewhere.  I got my start a few years back when my boss dumped a bunch of 3d software on my desk and said "One of our departments just bought a bunch of these apps and we need somebody on the helpdesk who can figure out how to use them so someone here can help them when they call in with questions".

Wow! That's a pretty cool job, being told to mess with high-end graphics software so you can help people with questions about them! Where do I sign up?

Seriously, though, I take heart at your encouragement. I started out with a demo of the Poser Pro Pack after seeing some artowrk that mentioned Poser 4 (I got the demo from a book on the Pro Pack; I had hoped that some of the more advanced features would be disabled so that I could create my own artwork with it, right away. Alas, it had all the features, but the ability to save your work was disabled!) Even though it was just a demo, it at least helped me with posing mt characters in my pencil work. When I saw Poser 5 for sale in my Academic Superstore mailer, I had to get it.

For the longest time, I was content to snatch up any free content I could find and use that for my art, but after a while, I realized that wasn't enough, as I couldn't find the kind of armor set I was looking for, for Aiko, my favorite female modle. I had to either buy something that was close enough for jazz, or make it, myself. I couldn't afford option A, so I downloaded Anim8or and went with option B.

By the end of my armor project, I realized three things: 1) That I actually had the full version of Hiro 3 this whole time and didn't know it (I got him from that free Daz|Studio content pack that included the base figures of M3, V3, and A3. I thought H3 was just a base, too, until I installed him out of desperation for a male character for my comic) 2) All I needed to adapt the armor to Hiro was a new Chest Piece (all the other pieces could be altered to fit him quite nicely), so why not make a set for him? 3) Maybe other people might like to have an all-in-wonder armor set like this, too, so why not make it available for download?

And people responded so well to my set that, well, I wanted to improve it. First, I altered it so that textures could be applied to the armor. Now, I want to put body morphs into the set so that people could use the conforming pieces for characters of any body type.

And I've discovered that there are other things people are looking for, too, that they have trouble finding! So, I have a few new projects to work on, such as my footwear pack project, and my coat pack project! So... with all these things going on, I decided I could use a utility to put the morphs into the clothing I make, because, like I had said, earlier, I quickly discovered that the process of making clothing for poser figures is a bit involved, and I need any and all shortcuts I can get my hands on! And I love the Tailor! 

I've already got the body morphs for Hiro's Chest Piece all done! If I hadn't caught my boyfriend's cold and hadn't been busy all day, I'd already have uploaded the body morph pack for the Simple Light Armor for Aiko and Hiro.

As for the footwear and coat pack, well, I'm also trying to get a few Poser comics completed, so that might take a while to do. But that will get done, eventually. Maybe one day, when I feel more confident about my modelling abilities, I'll even actually sell a few things, here on Renderosity. A girl can dream, no?

Anyhow, I think it's time to get some rest. You all have a great evening!
TheKeeper